 |
|
|
|
| |
 |
| |
Poverty reduction is needed for a strong recovery that works for everyone
by Greg DeGroot-Maggetti [article
in ISARC e-newsletter, December 2009]
Greg is a member of ISARC’s Steering Committee, Co-Chair of the 25in5 Network for Poverty Reduction and works as a Poverty Advocate for the Mennonite Central Committee Ontario.
On the first anniversary of the Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy, the importance of the strategy cannot be overstated.
It was launched just as the global recession rolled across Ontario, precisely the time when we needed our government to work for us. So the fact that the Government has moved forward with the poverty reduction strategy in the midst of the recession is significant.
In the first year of Ontario’s poverty reduction strategy, the Government has taken some positives steps. These include:
- Accelerating the increases in the Ontario Child Benefit and matching federal social housing investments.
- Bringing in legislation to protect temp agency workers and budgeting $4.5 million a year to hire more employment standards enforcement officers.
- Sticking to the commitment to roll out full-day junior and senior kindergarten. However, it is crucial that the Government maintain investments in subsidized childcare, while implementation of full-day learning proceeds.
- Holding consultations on a long-term affordable housing strategy.
- Passing poverty reduction legislation (with all-party support) and creating a Results Team to keep the poverty reduction strategy on track.
Given the current economic situation – with job losses mounting and food banks seeing more and more people – there is every indication the Government will miss their poverty reduction target unless they redouble their efforts.
While this poses a serious challenge for Ontario it also presents a real opportunity.
Just as poverty reduction is among the most powerful way to stimulate the economy in a recession, poverty reduction is needed if we are going to have a strong recovery that works for everyone.
There is a real risk that the Ontario Government – and the Federal Government – will repeat the mistakes of the 1990s. During the recovery from the recession of the early 1990s, governments became fixated with the fiscal deficit. They slashed spending and gutted social programs in a rush to eliminate the deficit.
The result was that the recovery took longer. Thousands of people suffered needlessly. Many people were left behind altogether when the recovery came. Child poverty in Ontario in 2007 – the best of economic times – did not even fall back to where it was in 1989.
We cannot repeat the mistakes of the 1990s.
The Government’s poverty reduction strategy needs to be an integral part of the recovery from the current recession. People who have lost jobs need the income supports and the training opportunities to stay afloat now and re-tool to participate in the economic recovery.
Every dollar spent through the Ontario Child Benefit and other income support programs is money that goes directly into the local economy – supporting local retailers and buying food in neighbourhood grocery stores. It is economic stimulus with no time lags, no delays.
And poverty reduction is the right thing to do because now is precisely the time when we need our Government to be there for us; helping us weather the storm the same way they were there to help automakers through the crisis and “back-stopped” the banks.
But without an even stronger commitment to poverty reduction, the Government is likely to miss its poverty reduction target.
Poverty reduction is what we need for a strong recovery that includes everyone. It is one of the best ways to get through the current recession. And it is the right thing to do for people.
Making Good on the Promise
The 25in5 Network for Poverty Reduction, of which ISARC is a partner, has released its accountability report on the first year of the Government’s poverty reduction strategy. Making Good on the Promise documents positive progress but cautions that the Government risks missing its target of a 25% reduction in child and family poverty by 2013 unless further action is taken.
| | |
